 "Photo: Terresa Ling")
"It was the best conference I've ever been to, so good, I had to go twice," proclaimed Krys Foster, a rising junior and biology major at the University of Miami.
The Monster Diversity Leadership Program (DLP), a division of Monster.com, took place at St. John's University from Aug. 10-12.
Students across the nation have raved about this program's $100,000 in scholarship money awarded and opportunities to network with companies such as PricewaterhouseCoopers, New York Life and Bloomberg.
Chuck Knippen founded DLP in 2002 and also acts as its general manager. The program's mission is to connect student leaders with companies based on the principal of "edutainment," develop career-building skills, and motivate students to reach goals and succeed.
Knippen's inspiration came during high school while attending the LEAD Program in business at Columbia University. It is his hope that each new student will "pay it forward" too.
Taking place at 10 locations during the summer, the program selects 3,000 student leaders to attend the all expenses paid weekend conference at a college campus.
Although this opportunity is only open to rising sophomores, juniors and seniors, graduate students may submit their resumes for a chance to win scholarship money. Once accepted, students prepare to meet 299 others from across the nation.
The program commenced that Friday night with a pizza party sponsored by Enterprise Rent-A-Car. With music blasting in the background, students chatted excitedly and eagerly awaited the events of the weekend.
To add to the excitement, companies handed out bagful of freebies, tickets for prizes and scholarships. Other features include prizes ranging from iPods to gift cards.
Students were then separated into groups based on majors and partnered with a company. This reporter was placed with PricewaterhouseCoopers. PwC provided valuable information about attaining internships.
They advised on available opportunities, personally reviewed resumes and shared interviewing tips, such as always writing thank you notes and maintaining a pleasant attitude.
The highlight of Saturday was the Target Red Room Party. The red-themed lounge party had special red drinks with glow-stick straws, candy and a floating wave of blinking red lights in a semi-dark room.
Outside, students lounged on two revolving hemisphere-shaped chairs in the same red shade.
On Sunday, the final day, students participated in team building activities such as creating the tallest freestanding structure using construction paper and masking tape in 10 minutes. The winning team created a structure very much like the Eiffel Tower.
In addition, there was a Career Fair that featured all the companies and concluded with an inspirational keynote speaker.
DLP participants were truly blown away by what they experienced from this weekend. "I really enjoyed DLP," noted Myreli Lopez, a rising sophomore at SUNY Geneseo. "I never thought it was going to be this much fun. I'm actually thinking of doing it again."
Danika Chen, a Baruch College junior majoring in international marketing added, "It's a great way to spend a weekend. I made a bunch of friends and networking is always fun."
Sally Reyes, a sophomore majoring in business administration at Fordham University, noted that, "The playing field has been flattened even more, thanks to the diverse and unique contributors such as Monster DLP."
Applying for DLP is simple, but competitive. This year, 25,000 students applied and only 3,000 students were accepted. Only a resume and an online application are needed. The past year, 26 Baruch students attended.
For more information about the program, visit monsterdlp.com.
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